Mission  STUDY 

ITS  VALUE  6>  POWER 


A  Study  Full  of  Interest 


ISSION  STUDY  18  gloriously  interesting  because  it  deals  with  great 
living  issues.  It  is  no  wild  declaration  of  an  unbalanced  enthusiast 
to  say  that  missions  is  really  the  world’s  great  living  issue.  The 
pioneer  preacher  has  saved  and  steadied  each  successive  American 
frontier.  It  was  a  Home  missionary  who  drove  the  golden  spike 
which  completed  the  first  trans-conlinenlal  railroad  in  America. 
“That  event,”  says  Dr.  George  Elliott,  “opened  more  acres  and  fed  more  mouths 
than  any  event  since  the  discovery  of  the  steam  engine.”  Missions  is  a  burning 
issue  because  of  the  number  of  people  involved.  The  gospel  messenger  is  deter¬ 
mining  the  fate  of  nations.  The  admission  of  new  states,  or  a  distant  war,  or  a 
national  revolution  affect  directly  only  small  portions  of  the  earth ;  but  the  campaign 
of  the  missionary  is  of  vital  interest  to  every  person  on  the  planet.  Mission  study  is 
interesting  because  it  deals  with  great  countries,  fascinating  peoples,  inspiring  move¬ 
ments.  It  is  alive  with  the  throbbing  life  of  today.  Then,  too,  this  subject  is  full 
of  interest  because  of  the  way  the  missionary  has  influenced  international  policies. 
To  quote  Alexander  McArthur,  M.  P.:  “I  believe  the  advancement  of  civilization, 
the  extension  of  commerce,  the  increase  of  knowledge  in  art,  science  and  literature, 
the  promotion  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  the  development  of  countries,  rich  in  un¬ 
discovered  mineral  and  vegetable  wealth,  are  all  intimately  identified  with  and  to  a 
much  larger  extent  than  most  people  are  aware  of,  dependent  upon  the  work  of  tfic 
missionary,  and  1  hold  that  the  missionary  has  done  more  to  civilize  and  to  benefit 
the  world  than  any  and  all  other  agencies  combined.”  How  can  any  eager,  wide¬ 
awake  young  person  afford  to  be  ignorant  concerning  these  issues  ?  How  it  makes 
the  blood  leap  to  know  that  every  Christian  may  have  a  part  in  this  campaign  I 


kTUDY  is  the  only  method  which  will  permanently  arouse  the 

Sr^  Church  to  its  missionary  duty  and  opportunity.  The  Church  will 
never  be  aroused  until  it  is  informed,  but  the  process  of  education  is 
subject  is  large.  This  makes  thorough  study  impera¬ 
tive.  To  become  intelligent  on  any  great  subject  takes  time.  Those 
who  have  passed  through  high  school  and  college  have  spent 
from  two  to  four  years  in  the  mastery  of  algebra  and  the  time  has  been  well  spent. 
To  acquire  even  a  fair  knowledge  of  Latin  requires  lessons  three  to  five  times  a  week 
for  four  or  five  years.  Is  Christ’s  program  for  fifteen  hundred  millions  of  human 
beings  on  all  the  continents  any  less  important,  or  will  the  mastery  of  the  details  of  the 
campaign  be  a  lighter  thing  than  the  mastery  of  Algebra  or  Latin  >  Many  have 
spent  ten  or  twenty  or  forty  years  over  the  Bible  but  have  not  completely  mastered 
it.  We  need  not  less  but  more  Bible  study.  If  all  Bible  students  had  studied  the 
plans  of  the  God  of  the  Bible  for  the  conquest  of  His  world,  as  they  have  studied 
His  Word,  they  would  be  missionary  statesmen  every  one  of  them.  What  is  needed 
today  is  a  new  study  of  the  Word  with  a  map  of  the  world  beside  it  until  Christ’s 
men  catch  step  with  His  present  day  plans.  When  we  know  what  our  Lord  is 
doing  in  His  world,  our  hearts  will  blaze  with  a  new  intensity.  But  to  be  intelligent 
and  intense  is  not  enough.  This  is  to  be  a  permanent  campaign,  and  permanence 
can  come  only  as  there  are  continuous,  repeated  and  ever-enlarging  impressions.  This 
is  impossible  without  study.  The  occasional  missionary  sermon,  a  little  information 
from  magazines,  a  monthly  Sunday  School  Missionary  Program,  usually  not  observed, 
a  monthly  meeting  in  a  Missionary  Society,  a  fragment  now  and  then  in  the  Epworth 
League — all  these  are  good,  but  inadequate  to  arouse,  inform  and  enlist  the  Church. 


Shows  Amazing  Missionary  Conditions 


kTUDY  alone  will  make  clear  the  present  missionary  situation  at 
home  and  abroad.  This  is  an  era  of  colossal  enterprises.  A 
single  building  is  being  erected  in  New  York  worth  fifty  miles 
Vy  of  ordinary  dwellings ;  irrigation  schemes  are  reclaiming  whole  em¬ 
pires  of  dreary  desert,  and  a  railroad  is  being  built  for  many  miles 
out  into  the  sea.  In  the  midst  of  such  a  time  the  supreme  need 
of  the  Church  is  that  it  shall  lead  all  other  thinkers  and  doers  in  the  largeness  of 
its  thinking  and  achievements.  If  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  is  not  only  to  keep 
pace  with  the  age,  but  to  capture  and  dominate  it  for  Him,  she  must  have  a 
magnificent  program  calling  for  millions  of  money  and  armies  of  workers,  and  vision 
and  passion  large  enough  and  deep  enough  to  carry  out  the  plans  made.  How 
can  one  be  alert  to  the  needs  of  Home  missions  who  does  not  know  about  the 
problems  in  the  City  and  the  foreignized  East,  the  problem  of  the  South,  the 
magnitude  of  the  unoccupied  territory  west  of  the  Mississippi ;  who  does  not  ponder 
over  the  significance  of  the  fact  that  this  year  hundreds  of  thousands  of  missionaries 
have  gone  out  to  the  remotest  bounds  of  Europe  and  Asia  in  the  tides  of  immigrants 
returning  to  their  homes  because  of  the  financial  depression  ?  Let  us  brace  ourselves 
now  for  the  mightiest  tide  of  peoples  ever  yet  seen  moving  across  all  the  seas  when 
this  tide  ebbs  once  more  bringing  new  millions  who  have  felt  the  lure  of  America  I 
In  foreign  lands  the  conditions  are  equally  amazing.  In  our  Methodist  mission  in  India 
in  the  last  four  years  the  increase  was  greater  than  in  the  first  thirty  years  seven  times 
over  1  God  has  already  swung  three-fourths  of  the  Mohammedans  in  the  world  under 
the  control  of  Christian  governments.  Let  us  study  all  this  until  there  lives  with 
US  day  and  night  the  summons  to  arise  and  finish  the  task  assigned  us  by  our  Lord. 


kHE  motives  for  missions  will  be  made  clear  by  mission  study  and 

Tr^  it  will  save  them  from  death.  The  biggest  human  motive  for 
missions  is  a  passionate  love  for  our  Lord  and  an  equally  passionate 
C5y  loyalty  to  his  leadership  and  obedience  to  his  commands.  No  ap¬ 
peal  of  missionaries*  no  vision  of  awful  and  indescribable  need*  no 
goadings  of  conscience  will  hold  us  steadily  to  the  titanic  task.  Only 
love  can  do  that*  and  love  grows  by  companionship*  intimacy*  self-surrender.  To  sit 
down  with  Jesus*  to  study  His  plans*  to  linger  long  with  Him  in  seeking  to  understand 
our  place  in  His  Kingdom  will  quicken  love.  Then  we  will  discover  other  motives 
deep  and  powerful.  The  world  is  in  need — there  is  no  question  about  that.  But 
the  Church*  too*  needs  the  missionary  enterprise  to  keep  it  alive.  “  It  is  not  a 
question  of  whether  the  heathen  will  be  saved  if  we  do  not  go  to  them*  but  as  to 
whether  we  can  be  saved  if  we  do  not  go.’*  The  great  task  is  a  necessity  if  the 
martyr  spirit  and  the  militant  temper  are  to  possess  the  Church.  The  leaders  at  home 
need  to  advance  the  Kingdom  with  all  possible  haste  if  they  are  to  grow  large  and 
splendid  and  Christlike  in  their  own  lives.  Study*  too*  will  save  our  motives  from 
paralysis  and  death.  With  constant  repetition  any  appeal  loses  its  grip  and  urgency. 
As  Bishop  McDowell  says:  ‘'Next  to  the  tragedy  of  sin*  is  the  tragedy  of  the  early 
loss  of  motive  out  of  men’s  lives.”  Our  missionary  motives  need  guarding.  They 
can  be  saved  only  as  we  live  in  the  light  of  our  highest  opportunity.  They  will  die 
unless  fed  on  the  fire  of  new  facts*  and  unless  kept  ablaze  by  hours  of  vigil  alone 
with  God  in  prayer  for  His  world.  Where  can  we  learn  these  things  except  by 
pondering  long  over  the  story  of  Christian  conquest  ?  How  will  our  motives  bum 
like  a  beacon  unless  they  be  fired  and  fed  with  new  fuel  ? 


Brings  Adequate  Financial  Support 


N  adequate  financial  response  for  missions  can  be  secured  only  on 
the  basis  of  an  adequate  campaign  of  missionary  education. 
An  Epworth  League  began  a  comprehensive  campaign  of  mission¬ 
ary  education.  The  first  year  the  financial  returns  were  $600,  and 
several  lives  had  been  dedicated  to  missionary  work.  A  young 
man  was  invited  to  become  the  pastor  of  a  church,  and  promised 
$  1 ,800  salary.  He  announced  to  the  congregation  that  they  had  been  so  good  to 
him  that  he  would  say  nothing  about  missions.  The  second  year  they  could  pay 
him  only  $1,500,  the  third  year  they  decreased  it  to  $1,200  and  he  left.  The 
next  pastor  was  promised  $1,200  but  said:  “I  will  be  faithful  to  all  the  great 
interests  of  the  Kingdom.’*  At  the  end  of  the  first  year  he  reported  a  fine  offering 
for  missions,  and  had  his  salary  raised  to  $1,500.  At  the  end  of  four  years  his 
salary  was  $2,000,  and  they  were  then  giving  $6,000  a  year  to  missions.  It  is  a 
question  of  men  I  And  a  question  of  giving  the  people  the  facts !  It  is  not  a 
question  of  our  marching  orders,  or  whether  we  have  sufficient  resources  of  men 
and  money,  or  of  indescribable  needs,  but  it  is  a  question  of  obedience  when  we 
know  the  facts  and  listen  to  the  summons  of  our  Master !  This  study  of  missions 
will  create  conviction  1  Men  will  see  that  we  need  a  large  reinforcement  to  push 
the  war  to  a  successful  conclusion.  Plans  will  begin  to  assume  adequate  pro¬ 
portions.  The  penny  collection  and  annual  offering  will  pass  and  men  will  make 
missionary  budgets  running  up  into  eight  or  nine  figures.  If  our  young  people  will 
now  begin  to  systematically  study  the  campaign,  will  adopt  a  plan  of  systematic  and 
proportionate  giving,  and  will  continue  to  study  and  grow  and  plan  and  pray  and 
give,  the  Kmgdom  will  come  apace.  Go  or  send!  Your  money  and  your  life! 


Widens  the  Horizon 


kHE  study  of  the  missionary  enterprise  widens  the  horizon.  No 
man  can  catch  up  with  his  horizon  who  keeps  pace  with  the 
march  of  the  King.  Provincialism  has  no  place  in  the  life 
Ov  of  a  modem,  alert  disciple  of  Christ  His  horizon  is  hounded 
only  by  the  love  of  His  Lord.  Says  a  great  modem  preacher : 
“We  must  not  condemn  our  young  people  to  provincialism  in  this 
day  of  catholicity.**  Mission  study  pushes  back  one’s  horizon  until  it  reaches  the 
outermost  rim  and  takes  in  the  last  lonely  man  on  the  planet.  Study  of  other  races 
will  help  us  to  realize  their  worth.  There  are  men  with  large  capacity  everywhere 
waiting  for  the  message  of  the  Gospel  to  lift  them  into  true  greatness.  Listen  to 
that  Chinese  Viceroy  who  was  approached  by  an  Englishman  concerning  the  intro¬ 
duction  of  opium  into  Chma.  The  Englishman  said ;  “You  will  make  a  lot  of  money 
out  of  it.**  The  reply  of  the  heathen  made  the  Christian  look  small.  “  I  will  never 
consent  to  do  anything  for  money  which  will  debauch  my  people.**  Then,  too,  the 
study  of  missions  inevitably  leads  to  the  study  of  every  department  of  life  and  activity. 
It  has  wide  implications.  Missionaries  are  powerful  factors  in  world  progress.  They 
have  greatly  increased  the  sum  of  the  world’s  knowledge.  The  Princeton  Review 
says:  “  Missionaries  have  rendered  more  service  to  geography  than  all  the  geographi¬ 
cal  societies  in  the  world.**  In  the  opinion  of  a  famous  statesman,  “Missionaries 
deserve  a  vote  of  thanks  from  the  commercial  world.**  The  story  of  the  missionary 
touches  history,  sociology,  philosophy,  ethnology,  comparative  religions,  international 
law,  government,  commerce,  diplomacy,  journalism,  medicine,  geography,  literature 
and — all  the  rest.  To  ignore  the  fascinatmg  story  of  modem  missions  b  to  be  out  of 
touch  with  thb  age  and  its  most  thrilling  achievements. 


Produces  Missionary  Leaders 

JSSION  STUDY  leads  to  conclusive  thinking  regardmg  life  work. 
God’s  doors  are  so  made  that  they  swing  both  ways — inward,  with 
blessing,  then  outward  for  service.  A  graduate  of  Yale,  with  a 
beautiful  wife  and  large  opportunities  in  an  eastern  city,  saw  the 
strategic  opportunity  of  service  in  a  great  western  state  and  went 
with  the  promise  of  an  opportunity  and  $300  a  year  I  He  is 
a  spiritual  Prince  out  there  now.  A  medical  student  was  told  that  only  half  the 
graduates  of  that  year  could  find  a  satisfactory  place  to  practice.  The  student  then 
thought  about  a  place  in  China  where  there  were  three  millions  of  people  with  no 
physician  and  put  his  life  in  there.  He  was  not  content  to  be  a  candle  in  America 
when  he  could  be  the  blaze  of  ten  thousand  electric  lights  in  China!  Many 
whose  hearts  are  stirred  will  not  be  called  to  be  ministers  or  missionaries.  Some 
will  get  a  new  vision  of  the  omnipotence  of  prayer  and  set  apart  their  lives  for 
intercession.  Others  who  have  a  genius  for  money-making  will  pour  thousands 
of  dollars  into  the  service,  or,  if  denied  great  wealth  will  give  out  of  their  sacrifice, 
like  one  poor  farmer’s  wife  whose  annual  gift  of  thirty  dollars  brought  three 
thousand  to  Christ  in  India  in  three  years.  Quickened  interest  will  inspire  still 
others  to  conduct  a  campaign  of  education  in  their  churches  by  distributing  mission¬ 
ary  literature,  by  promoting  missicnary  instruction  in  the  Sunday  school  and  by 
organizing  mission  study  classes.  Every  soldier  has  a  duty.  “  God  alone  can  save 
the  world,  but  God  cannot  save  the  world  alone.”  ”  The  vision  of  opportunity 
is  commission.” 

CORRESPOND  with  the  Young  People’s  Missionary  Department,  150 
Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City,  for  information  concerning  mission  study. 


